Le Couple

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This body of work has been created with the inspiration of french cinema, especially movies by my all-time favorite french directors Jean-Luc Goddard, Leos Carax, and cinematographer Jean-Yves Escoffier. The most compelling aspect of French cinema is its versatile experimental nature and the underlying artistic vision behind how each scene is designed and directed to convey a story or emotion.

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This series borrows many images from classic film by paying attention to shot angles, lighting, patterns, contrast and composition to emulate film stills and tell a narrative. The consecutive photographs develop a narrative about a couple that not only presents intimacy, but also highlights the distance that comes with such unspoken conflict. What could be more simple yet complex than to capture the minds of two lovers?

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Black and white play a critical role in strongly emphasizing the distinction between the two subjects through contrast, eliminating any other distractions that can be brought by color. However, color is also a great tool for evoking emotion. Similar to the early colorization technique, I digitally painted colors to a few of these black and white images. The addition of color was like blowing life into a fictional story. It is fascinating how it instantly becomes something magical when it is applied in a monochromatic world. Not only am I given the agency to make any creative decisions, but also have the power to apply my subjective vision to the image, creating the possibility for different interpretations. The images were printed on fine art agave paper in order to preserve and accentuate the fictional nature of the photographs. The work itself is not meant to be taken literally, but to be appreciated as a piece of art, as it is a recreation of reality and a documentation of imagination.